This book was a disappointment because I’ve very much enjoyed Sears’ prior novels – the ones in the Jason Stafford series.  This is another New York thriller but I’m not sure about it – somehow there is the same-old, same-old feel to it what with a fallen lawyer trying to scrounge a living.  This time the other players are just too weird for me I guess and it turns into a thriller with no real distinguishing qualities.   

The Tower of Babel
by Michael Sears
Read by Richard Poe 12h 18m
Rating: B- / crime – thriller 

From Amazon: 
Shamus Award-winning author Michael Sears brings Queens, New York, to literary life in this crime series debut featuring a somewhat seedy lawyer with a heart of gold (or at least gold plate).

Queens, New York – the most diverse place on earth. Native son Ted Malloy knows these streets like the back of his hand. Ted was once a high-powered Manhattan lawyer, but after a spectacular fall from grace, he has found himself back on his home turf, scraping by as a foreclosure profiteer. It’s a grubby business, but a safe one – until Ted’s case sourcer, a mostly reformed small-time conman named Richie Rubiano, turns up murdered shortly after tipping Ted off to an improbably lucrative lead.

With Richie’s widow on his back and shadows of the past popping up at every turn, Ted realizes he’s gotten himself embroiled in a murder investigation. His quest for the truth will take him all over Queens, plunging him into the machinations of greedy developers, mobsters, enraged activists, old litigator foes, and old-school New York City operators.